Inquisitive One-Shots
by Vashoth
Summary: A series of one shots focusing on different parts of how I imagine Inquisition will be like. Features my Human!Femquisitor, Eleanor. Cole and Solas make a few appearances.
1. Dinner in Skyhold

******Well, I finally got around to writing a new fanfiction. I'm not going to be able to update this frequently, by no stretch of the imagination, but I'll try not to keep this inactive. Once Inquisition comes out I'll mark this story as complete, as these chapters are from ideas I get from different sources of inspiration and are obviously not canon.**

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The dinner hall was full of people for the first time in several weeks. From the kitchen servants the higher members of the Inquisition, no one was anywhere else in the keep. The Inquisitor had been away for several weeks on a long quest in the Badlands and had returned on the eve of her birthday, so Vivienne decided that all members of the Inquisition had to be there when Eleanor could "let her hair down".

Dorian and Vivienne were sat together, quietly conversing about their different cultures and then changing the topic to critiquing the clothes everyone else wore within several seconds. Sera, Blackwall, Varric, and Iron Bull were together, planning something that wouldn't likely end well. While Sera and Iron Bull debated between two different ideas, Blackwall was picking away at pieces of their food, but the pair were far too invested in their argument to notice.

Solas was quietly eating, wishing that he could sit in his quarters instead of being in a room full of people, even if they paid little attention to him. Beside him were notes about various Fade creatures that he had not had the chance to study in depth before, although technically he still wasn't allowed to be studying those things. Only the Inquisitor was aware that he had a "dead" demon in a hidden part of the basement for studying, if anyone else knew they would probably get angry with him and remove it. Still, Eleanor had her doubts on whether they were truly dead or if he had found a way to make it stay there without possessing someone.

Cassandra was sat on the table adjacent to Solas, conversing with Leliana over strategical plans and pointing to marked areas on the map of Orlais she had taken to dinner. Leliana was clearly disinterested, but attempted to look like she was paying attention so Cassandra wouldn't invite Cullen over to their table again. Every so often she would look up from a letter she was writing and scan the room to see if there was anywhere she could excuse herself to.

As for the Inquisitor, she was sat by Cole, who had just finished sneaking around the room and taking spare pieces of food. It wasn't for him, it never was. The food was for the refugees that he saw outside on their travels, who were starving and worn down. He had tried his best to wrap the food up in a bundle, before he stuffed it into his leather satchel, but there was a small trail of gravy around the room that led straight to him.

"You're staring into space again" Eleanor remarked, fiddling with her food. The bread was starting to go stale and the soup tasted terrible. She was starting to think someone had left Cullen in charge of the kitchen as a joke. But with Vivienne glancing over to her every so often with a menacing stare, she had to look like she was enjoying it, lest she face the wrath of 'Madame de Fer'.

It took a moment for Cole to realise that she had said anything, and another moment for him to stop staring at a loose stone on the wall. In the White Spire, a loose stone normally meant there was a secret passage to be explored that could take him to hiding spots, but in the keep they usually just opened up forgotten staircases to sealed up dungeons and torture rooms.

"The keep has lots of loose bricks, have you noticed?" he asked, tearing his eyes away from it. She shook her head and moved her plate to the side, cringing at the taste of slightly-off bread lingering in her mouth that wouldn't wash down.

She looked around the room in an attempt to find where the loose stone was, but to no avail, "I haven't, actually. Are they a danger to anyone? Do I need to get someone to sort them out?"

"Probably not. It's just they lead to bad places, people have died in this keep" he said. Before she could make a reply, he continued, "But they died recently, not long ago"

"There were Red Templars here before we took it back. They probably had people thrown into the dungeons" she explained. Cole looked down at the table and thought of how to respond. It was like how he had died, forgotten by the Templars in a dungeon where no one willingly lingered for long, with no one there to mourn his passing. With no one who had once loved or knew him alive.

"They didn't deserve that, there were no bodies. Do you think they burnt them?" he speculated what they could have done in his head, even though he didn't want to think about it. Eleanor nodded sadly, though she didn't want to say anything else as Cole was clearly becoming distressed by the memories being brought up.

Eleanor noticed Solas looking at the pair. She couldn't ever tell when he could see Cole and when he couldn't, but she certainly didn't want to be seen as a mad person talking to nothing right now, especially when the entire celebration was because of her and she was meant to be the centre of attention. She said meant, Vivienne was the one who was taking congratulations on the party earlier and the birthday celebrations had long since ended.

Solas looked from her to Cole and started scribbling down notes on his parchment, "I think he's noticed something else," she said plainly. Solas had taken a lot of interest in Cole's abilities and Eleanor's unique connection to the Fade, and had a fair amount of theories on both what Cole was and how the unknown figure in the Fade had given Eleanor the power she had. He did so at a distance, however, so the others would not see him stranger than they already thought of him.

"Why doesn't he ever want to share what he writes down?" Cole asked. Eleanor shrugged. "Sometimes he starts asking about what it's like to be me, in this body. I don't know how to answer that."

"It's a private thing, isn't it? People don't really like sharing what they have written down with other people," she explained.

He looked down in confusion, "If other people find it, then they've shared it."

"That's why he always hunches over his work. Most of his notes are on things that some people here disprove of."

"Well since several pages are on me, I wouldn't be surprised," he joked. Eleanor joined in with Cole's rasped laughter, which attracted the attention of others nearby.

Despite all the noise in the hall, Eleanor found it to be lonely and quiet, as if people were making conversation for the sake of it. She knew it wasn't a happy time right now, and no one else was exactly thrilled with the situation of Thedas, but she didn't want people putting on a mask to make her feel better. A metaphorical one was almost as disturbing and unnecessary as the ones the Orlesians wore.

"I'm going to leave," she said to Cole. He nodded and stood up as well, but people paid more attention to Eleanor than to him. In fact the only person they paid attention to was her; they were oblivious to the rogue's passing even when he stood right in front of them. Even if he were to yell at the top of his lungs, they would still pay no attention to him unless he made them notice him. Then he would fade away as if he were never there within a few minutes, and people would only vaguely remember a strange blond boy at most. He wasn't upset by this, he knew how to control it now, but after years of being forgotten by near everyone, he preferred to keep to the shadows.

"Cole, may I perhaps ask you some questions? If you would allow it, of course," a voice asked. He turned around and was startled at the sight of Solas, who was about a head shorter than him, not that the elf was deterred by it. Cole's eyes flicked quickly to the Inquisitor, who was busy talking to Cullen and Cassandra while awkwardly trying to hide the fact she was scraping her food into the bin.

"Do you want to leave too?" he asked, trying to dodge an answer. Solas nodded and then repeated his question. He had only been here for little over two weeks, but he had taken a liking to Cole that he found intimidating, in a way. Very few people had ever been kind to him in his life, and most of those people had vanished without a trace. It had made him worried for those who were still there; what if he himself was the reason the disappeared? The question sometimes came up when he was trying to sleep.

Finally he turned back to Solas, "I suppose it would be better than staying here, I can't be the Inquisitor's burden all evening," he paused as a new thought came to him, "You wouldn't happen to have any more biscuits?"

"Perhaps. Though they may have been all eaten for tonight. If I remember correctly, Leliana is quite fond of them, I assume she would have some in her quarters," Solas chuckled, making his way through the tables with Cole trailing behind him. "And you aren't a burden, the Inqusitior prefers the company of us to the others"

"That's what she says, but Rhys once thought of my like that, and then he attacked me a while later," he saw Solas's concern and quickly corrected himself, "Not that he meant it. I was running away from him,"

"Was he a friend of yours?"

"He was the only one in the Spire who could see me, but then I ruined it, because I didn't want to give up being someone's friend," he balled up his fists tightly, his untrimmed nails biting against his skin, "And now… I don't know where he is now. The Inquisitor said that she was at the Chantry because a group of mages wanted to negotiate peace with the templars. That's what Rhys wanted, he could have been there and I couldn't help him"

Solas awkwardly patted Cole's shoulder to comfort him while they exited the Great Hall. He wasn't sure how he could comfort him, but he was distressed enough and it wouldn't have hurt to try, "You don't know that. Maybe they had left Orlais,"

Cole shook his head and moved away from Solas's hand, "I don't know if they were there, and I don't think I want to know."

He went ahead of Solas as they walked up the stairs to the bedrooms. Cole stayed off of the carpet in the centre of the hallway, instead he preferred the edges, where he could run his hand across the smooth stone wall as he used to in the Spire to remember that he was still real. He now knew that he was real, but he still found comfort in it.

Solas stopped outside of his bedroom door and turned to Cole, "I trust you don't plan on doing something that would annoy anyone tonight, are you? I think Josephine is still seething from last week."

"I didn't mean it, I've never seen something like that and I just slipped up. I didn't even know she had a collection of fancy eggs," he replied in defence, "I was curious about what it was, then the next second she's talking about how that was from Antiva and that the person who made it was dead,"

"Well, maybe you should stay far, far away from everyone's mantelpieces next time," a loud creak echoed around the room as he opened the great wooden door, "Goodnight, Cole".

Cole leapt forward and quickly stuck his hand in front of the door to stop it from closing, "Wait, did you see if you have any leftover biscuits?"

Solas sighed, "No, I don't have any biscuits. Now go to sleep or I'll turn you into a frog."

That was all it took to have Cole scarper away, and Solas smiled with satisfaction and a feeling of victory when he heard the door at the end of the hall slam shut.

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******So there's the first fanfiction I've written in quite a long time. Any criticism is accepted, because I am really rusty.**

**I have absolutely no idea as to where this was going. I did have a plan at first, but then at some point I went off of that and ended up writing a load of rubbish that I couldn't be bothered to fix, so I guess this is the product. And with the recent confirmation of Solas, I wanted to make something about him, so yeah. Maybe one of the chapters will be Inquisitor and Solas in the Fade with two other companions (have a wild guess as to who they'll be).**

**I might go over this in the morning because I finished it at 11pm while I was attempting to procrastinate important work, as you do.**


	2. The Tower's Ghost

**I finally got around to finishing this chapter. It doesn't feel like it's been two weeks since I last updated, but there we go. If dates are going this fast, I hope it goes really fast to November. I do have some other ideas, but no idea how to write them down.**

**EDIT: With the information about Cole being released, I changed around the companions a bit so it would make more sense.**

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Eleanor sighed a breath of relief as Sera shot down the last remaining demon. It was a feat to clear a tower of demons, she thought. The Hero of Ferelden had supposedly done it, but at that point there were still Mages and Templars in the Circles. Not that the Templars ever helped when there was a crisis.

"Do you feel like there's someone watching us?" Sera asked, quickly maneuvering around from demon to demon to salvage any intact arrows. Vivienne, still not used to seeing someone so ready to search a dead blob of goo, looked down at her in disgust. The Inquisitor looked down at her hand - it was dimly glowing, as it always did when she was where the Veil was thin.

"There's nothing here. Just…" she looked up and noticed a figure hidden in the shadows. Eleanor walked towards it, keeping her eyes on whatever it was and her hand at the same time. Her hand was glowing brighter, and she used it to illuminate the shadows, "Who are you?" she asked, noticing that they seemed to be a male human. Not a demon.

He refused to move towards her, instead slowly edging back into the shadows with every step she took. She could barely make out his face: he appeared to be confused about her. Realising that he had hit the wall and couldn't go back any further without raising even more suspicions, he shakily stepped forwards towards her. His hand reached for the dagger in his belt, and he traced his fingers over its familiarity to calm down. He didn't want to be caught holding the knife though, so he quietly stowed to to the side while keeping a tight grip. This woman was the first person to notice him since Rhys, he couldn't let an opportunity like this slip away.

"Y-you can see me?" he asked. She nodded - he just asked a question with an obvious answer after all. He stepped into the dim green light of the dungeon and Eleanor noted that he was looking like he hasn't seen a living person for a long time, and the same could be said for a bath.

She kept her distance, knowing that something was wrong. Her hand's glow had intensified, meaning that either a demon was nearby, or this person wasn't a real human, "How long have you been here? The demons didn't notice you?"

"Eleanor you're talking to nothing. Is the air interesting?" Iron Bull said. She turned to him and raised an eyebrow, motioning to the young man beside her. Sera and Vivienne joined the Qunari in explaining how she was talking to thin air.

"No, he's right here. This really isn't the time to joke, and I didn't even think you'd ever go along with something Sera and Iron Bull think up, Viv," Eleanor retorted, getting increasingly irritated at their ignorance. Vivienne muttered something in Orlesian and went to walk away, only to stop herself so her shoes were not further covered in… whatever it was demons were made of.

"They're telling the truth" the man said sadly. Eleanor turned around to look at him again and saw that he had moved out of his hiding spot, "My name is Cole… you aren't supposed to be able to see me."

Eleanor looked at him with a surprised expression, "And you've been here since the tower was abandoned, and the demons never attacked you? I don't understand, wouldn't they have tried to get you first?"

"Look, you really look weird right now. Whatever is there, can they just appear or something?" Sera remarked, "Unless you're joking about this invisible person."

Eleanor ignored Sera and returned to talking to Cole, "You aren't actually human, Cole, are you? If you were, my hand wouldn't be glowing near you,"

He shook his head and sighed before appearing to the Inquisitor's companions. They were all taken aback by the sight of a blooded and dirty _creature_. The first thing that came to Sera and Vivienne was that Cole was not a living thing, and shouldn't be treated as one. They were disturbed by its hollow and sunken eyes, the dirty blonde hair that should have been lighter if it weren't for the amount of dirt and grease in it. Despair seemed to emanate from him and linger around the room, as if he was the reason the tower was in disrepair.

Vivienne didn't know what she was more disgusted by: his appearance, the fact he was a demon, or the rags that he had cobbled together to make an outfit. She had seen better from even the most inexperienced tailor, or even by the Circle apprentices who had shoddily attempted to fix their robes before they were caught by Templars. She briefly felt pity for the boy.

"Have you ever left this tower?" Eleanor asked him. He nodded, but went on to explain before she could carry on asking questions.

"Just once, though. But people died because of me, I shouldn't leave," he appeared clearly uncomfortable in her presence and having to answer questions on the spot, but the last time he held information from someone it had't ended well. No... he didn't want to think about that again.

Sera scoffed, "You're a demon, that's why. Nothing good ever comes from being around things like that. Just kill it, or I'll do it myself" she reached for an arrow from her quiver, but an order from Eleanor forced her hand away from it.

"For once, just leave your ideas behind. I know you're scared of demons and spirits, but if Cole can help us in any way, then we should accept it. We are not killing him," she sternly replied. The Elf turned away from her in disgust and began making her way to the entrance of the dungeon.

He instinctively responded with an inquiring tone, mixed in with childish excitement at the thought of being able to leave the tower and help people, to maybe show these people that he was good, "You want me to come with you?".

"I'm not forcing you to. But the offer is there, if you want it," she explained. Soon after she had finished speaking, Cole had voiced something to say he had agreed to going with them. Vivienne was visibly annoyed as the Inquisitor held out her hand to let them shake on it, but Iron Bull was amused when he realised that Cole didn't understand what she was trying to do.

"Let's go, the Veil is thin here. More of its kind could get through or already lurking in the shadows. We don't want to recruit them all, do we?" Vivienne urged them, making her way through the dungeon ever-so carefully so not to get blood got on her outfit. The mage's behaviour was already restarting Cole's confusion over humans.

"Is there any reason that she walks like that?" he questioned the Inquisitor. He didn't bother making his voice quieter, which just seemed to make it clear that he lacked most people skills. Probable, coming from a spirit who had been isolated in the tower for a longer time than Eleanor had probably been alive.

"Vivienne just really likes her clothes. I've tried to get her to wear something more practical, but she has the intentions of impressing tower demons, I guess" she replied. Iron Bull stayed quiet, and Vivienne made an unimpressed huff. Cole looked to the Inquisitor and a ghost of a smile played on his lips, realising that she'd made a joke.

'_Well, maybe he won't stick out like a sore thumb once we return to the castle_' Eleanor thought. But then again, she also thought that was unlikely. The latter seemed correct.


End file.
